The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE Free National Movement’s three-day convention next month will be a fully virtual event in response to the surge in COVID-19 infections in the country.

Party chairman Carl Culmer confirmed the decision yesterday, telling The Tribune the FNM wanted to ensure it was compliant with health protocols.

The convention is slated to be held from February 23-25.

“We are going to have a virtual convention,” Mr Culmer said. “The dates are still the same and that’s the last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (in February).”

He said it was not a matter of cutting costs for the event, but solely in response to the country’s current COVID-19 situation.

When the FNM elected its new party leader—Marco City MP Michael Pintard — in November, the event was face-to-face and came at a cost of around $100,000.

However, at the time there was not a surge in cases as there has been in recent weeks.

“We checked with the health department because as you know we in the FNM try to stay within the protocols and we checked with the Ministry of Health,” Mr Culmer said when asked if the decision was in a bid to save the party money.

“First, we started thinking about a face-to-face event and then once the numbers started to get up there, we decided we would try a hybrid method and so we asked for hybrid.

We went to the Ministry of Health and they didn’t see us having a hybrid between now and then and they asked us to apply at the end of this month.

“But if you are having a convention in February you cannot wait until the end of the month to apply again so we will do everything virtually and we will go from there.”

FNM deputy leader Peter Turnquest has previously said that all positions from deputy leader down will be contested.

“The convention that will be held in February, will be for all other officers from deputy leader straight on down,“ he had said in November.

He said the party’s constitution called for a convention every two years at which time the party would go through choosing a leader and officers again.